July 26, 2012

This week has been packed full.  Relief society was really great last sunday.  The speaker shared a story of how to use the atonement in our lives.  She told us of how she made 2 blankets for her baby grand kids.  They started as a wall decoration hanging above their cribs.  Eventually they came down and they would snuggle with them all night long. It eventually got to the point where they were taking them every where and using them up.   The blankets eventually became worn out.  The pictures were worn away and stitches were coming undone.  She said when she saw the blankets she was so happy to see that her grand kids used the blankets and didn't just let them stay up on the wall forever.  She was glad that they got all the use out of them she could.  Just as her grand kids used the blankets, we in our lives need to use the atonement and not just use it as a decoration in our lives.  I thought that it was a really good comparison.

 

The sunday night devotional was all about music....made me think of you mom.  We sang Come, Come ye saints 3 times during it.  The power of music is great :)  He talked about fear of new experiences and how if we want to stop fearing what is in the future, we need to change our focus from ourselves and just serve others.  It was a good one!

 

Speaking of Music......so before I left I really started liking a singer  named Katherine Jenkins.  I loved her music so much and I was bumbed that I wasn't going to be able to listen to it anymore.  BUT, when we are doing our spanish computer work we can listen to music on the lds website, and guess who was the guest singer on the pioneer day mormon tabernacle choir concert? I felt like it was my lucky day.  You should listen to it, its really good.  And just so you know...the last song is one of my favorites:)

 

In class we have been learning about the importance of prayer with investigators and everyone in general.  I am thankful that we always had family prayer every night, it was a good lesson for me, I love ya'll so much:D

 

Yesterday we got another district in our zone, and there are 4 Hermanas.  Hermana White and I won't be the only ones any more, WOOHOO! They seem really nice.  We are going to have a training meeting with them tonight to give them all of the infor about the MTC that they need to know.........and its really strange to think that this is only my 20th day here. Seems a lot longer that, haha.

 

And yes the temple opened back up! We just got back from doing a session.  Going up there with a missionary badge is a neat experience, everyone just smiles and says hello and whatever else.  Took me a second to figure out why, haha.  But it was great and I loved it and it made me miss you guys a bunch! Especially Cristy...that's always been our temple.  Miss you :)

 

One scripture that has stuck out in my mind is Enos 1.  I really like the part where it says he was pondering the words his father told him and they sunk deep into his heart.  In class we learned the importance of pondering eternal truths so they can sink deep into our hearts.  Thats when understanding comes.  I really liked that. 

 

Thinks are good, and I am enjoying it here.  Spanish is getting harder...oh boy:) But it will come with time.  The elders were right, the wraps are amazing. haha.   Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Hermana Lori Crawford

July 19, 2012

Last week we got a group of new missionaries in our branch.  Mi companion and I are the only sisters....so by default we are the 'coordinating sisters' for our branch.  All that means is that we help train the newbies and go to a LOT of meetings.  Its been a good experience though.  On my 7th day here I got to share my testimony in one of the training meetings for the new missionaries and well....it was an awesome experience:)

The first 'investigator' that we were teaching, just became our 2nd teacher. It was a good learning experience to teach someone that became our teacher because he was able to see what we need to focus on the most in spanish....which is pretty much everything. haha. But I learned how important it is to have the spirit with you as you teach a lesson...even if they are fake investigators.  It was a good experience.  Tonight we start teaching in the TRC.  Its where members volunteer and come in and and just speak about the gospel in spanish with us.  We have a little lesson prepared, but mostly we are just supposed to try to go with the flow.......that should be interesting.  Haha. 

One super funny thing that happened is that in class, we were learning about vowel sounds.  Hermano Angel had a, e, i, o, u written on the board and we were just practicing prouncing them in spanish.  I started laughing and everyone was like what the heck.....But in the Movie Tarzan, when jane desides to stay behind and she is telling the apes that she is saying she says' a e i o u' spanish style.  Everyone just laughed. If you don't know what I am talking about, I bet cristy can fill you in. 

Devotional on Tuesday was by Jenny Oaks Baker, Elder Oaks daughter.  She is a famous violinist so she shared some family stories and played her violin, it was so GOOD!  Sunday devotional was by Vaughn J Featherstone. He talked about how 'no other talent exceeds spirituality.'  He also shared a story about how an senior couple had put in mission papers.  They were expecting to get a service mission call or something along those lines...because that's what senior missionaries usually get.  But they got a proslyting mission call to Alaska of all places.  They were hesitant to accept the call for obvious reasons, but they did it.  One day they were walking through a blizzard and were getting ready to head back home because it was getting pretty bad.  But they saw a light on at the top of a big hill, so they decided one more house.  They got to the house knocked, and their long lost son of 14 years opened the door.   HOW COOL IS THAT? Well I am not expecting anything like that to happen.....mainly beacuse I don't have kids....haha...... BUT I know that missionaries get called to where they need to serve.  Whether it is for their own benefit or for the specific beniefit of others.  Cool huh?

Another REALLY super cool thing that happened.  Our district was having a meeting with one of the branch presidency members. We had about 10 extra minutes to spare, so he decided to call one of the missionaries that served with him when he was a mission president to see if he had any advice for us. He also mentioned that the person he was calling was the grandson of President Monson.  So we were all excited.  So Brother S. called him up and asked if he had any advice for the missionaries and he said that he remembered some things his grandfather had told him.  He said to study like crazy, learn all you can, follow the rules, Don't go faster than you can, and give all the credit to the Savior.  I thought that it was really good advice. 

July 12, 2012

Hello there :D

 

Well my first full week is DONE! Only 7 more to go in the MTC, haha.  I love and miss you all, so much:) So much is happening and I am learning so much....I don't know if I can put it all into words.  But we will see.

 

So Orva and Richard dropped me off.   At the curb there was a whole bunch of elders waiting to help carry luggage.  They took me to the room where the Hermanas were meeting and I got all my books and name tag! It is so cool to wear a name tag that says Hermana Crawford! I love it.  My first companions name was Hermana Dicarolo--she is from Italy...how neat is that?! But she got moved up to the intermediate spanish class, so now my companion is Hermana White.  She has only been a member of the church for a little over a year, so she does not feel very comfortable with the doctrine quite yet, but she is amazing at teaching it anyway. I have been learning a lot from her.  My teachers name is Hermana Olsen, and good heavens she is so great!  For my first week, spanish is coming along just fine.  It is pretty overwhelming, not going to lie.  But we just keep telling ourselves that we have only been speaking spanish for 7 days and it is a little less freaky, haha.  On our third day here, saturday, my companion and I taught our first lesson in spanish. That was pretty neat :) Yesterday we even committed him to baptism! Sadly....he is not a real investigator though, haha.  We have taught him 3 times now and this saturday he will become our second teacher.  We aren't suppose to know that, but everyone in our district figured it out, haha. 

 

And I love running into people that I know.  I have seen kadi landry from the last singles ward a lot! I was sitting in relief society and I heard this really strangely familiar hick-up--and I knew it was here. Bwhaha.  We got to eat lunch together one day and it was just really nice to see a familiar face! Also, we were in the playing field the other day just walking around and there was this woman walking towards us on the side walk.  A split second later she was yelling LORI! haha, it was Sharon from when I worked in the MTC cafeteria.  It was also a much needed reunion.  Cristy can tell you about her, she is kind of a little........excentric, but she is a great person and I just love her! I was so fun to see her:D  We have gym time every day and we have been playing volleyball and riding the elipticals a lot, it has been lots of fun.  I also keep seeing Brittani in the cafeteria from our single ward.  That is lots of fun too:D

 

Church is so good.....kind of stressful, but good.  We have to write a talk in spanish for church every sunday on a new topic because they just call on missionaries at random.  And since our zone hasn't had sisters in it for a long time, I am thinking they will probably call on one of us to speak this sunday.....oh boy.  My companion and I are the only sisters in our district.  There is about 55 elders and 2 sisters, haha.   With that said, my companion and I are also the Coordinating Sisters.  All that means for right now is that we get to go to a bunch of meetings and help train the new missionaries in how to do personal study when they come in.  It doesn't look like there will be any new sisters for a while, but hopefully we will get some soon. 

One of the coolest experiences I have had so far is singing Called to Serve with all the other missionaries.  We sang it the first day with all the new missionaries and it feels like we sing it every other day, but it is such a powerful song! Woohoo! haha.  Lately we have been learning our purpose as missionaries and how it is the same as the doctrine of christ.  We have been studying 2 Nephi 31 a lot, and it is a great chapter.  You guys should read it :)